Master Jedi
by Sasinister
Summary: Ben, 8 years old is just about the unluckiest kid in the world. He's being bullied at school, his dad hits him and his mother is a jobless alcoholic. He's completely resigned, when suddenly this weird man appears out of nowhere... Still in progress. I'll try to post new chapters as soon as possible. Please leave comments. I need critiscism. Original characters: Zett Jukassa
1. Chapter I

Ben turned a corner and came out onto Mainstreet. He was late.  
He was supposed to be at school in two minutes and his school was still three blocks down the road. He started running.  
He raced down the street, almost knocking down an old lady in the process.

Two blocks to go.

When he was just a block away from school, he suddenly tensed.  
He felt like he was being watched, but since he couldn't spot anybody, carried on running.  
He arrived just in time to see his teacher Mrs. Dubb close the classroom door behind her. He quickly reopened it and slipped inside.  
„You're late!", Mrs. Dubb croaked. Ben knew he was doomed.  
Mrs. Dubb was just about the meanest Teacher in the universe. She would probably give him detention for a week.  
„Sorry Mrs. Dubb, it won't happen again...", he mumbled and hastily sat down, ignoring the mocking grins from his classmates.  
When he opened his desk, he found it filled with old chewing-gums.  
He fingered out his Mathsbook and put it in front of him, opening it up at the page Mrs. Dubb had just named.  
On the top of the page somebody had scribbled the word 'Loser'.  
He quickly erased it so Mrs. Dubb wouldn't see, but it was too late. His teacher was already standing behind him, an angry look on her face.  
„What did I tell you about writng in our school's books, Mr. Allan?", she rasped.  
„But it wasn't me...", Ben stammered.  
„Come, come. I'll have to ask you to stay here after school today."  
She turned and left, leaving Ben ready to burst into tears.

At the end of the day, after everyone had left, Mrs. Dubb put a pile of books in front of him and told him to erase everything anyone had scribbled inside them.  
When he finally finished, it was already dark outside.

He started to walk home, but turned around as as soon as he'd gone a few meters, the feeling of being watched came back and made him scan the darkness for human beings.

Nobody.

He was alone.

When he got home, he opened the front door and quietly slipped inside.  
He took off his shoes and tiptoed down the hall.  
When he passed the kitchen, he saw his mother lying face-down on the table, a bottle of alcohol in her hand. He sighed. Every day.

Just as he was putting his foot on the first step of the staircase, his father came out of the living-room:  
"Where've you been?", he asked.  
"School...", Ben said in a half-truth.  
"So you got detention again huh? What' you do this time you idiot?", he was screaming now, "'Think you can do whatever you want you spoiled brat? Huh? Answer me!"  
The first blow hit Ben right in the face, then a second and a third.  
Ben turned and tried to run, but his father caught him and continued hitting him.  
He finally managed to break lose and scrambled back outside.  
He ran to the shed, stormed inside and locked the door behind him.  
The boy collapsed against the wall, and fumbled to find the light-switch.  
He slowly sat down on the floor and touched his finger to his nose.  
It was bleeding.  
He found some paper towels and managed to stop the bleeding.  
When he finally got himself to calm down a little, he slumped against the wall, buried his face in his hands and started sobbing.  
He continued crying, until hours later he slowly drifted off to sleep in his three-sizes-too-small clothes, thinking about running away, but knowing, that he could never evade his father.  
His life was never going to change... Ever.


	2. Chapter II

The next morning, when Ben opened his eyes, he saw that he was in the shed.

Of course.

Why wouldn't he be?  
He got up and walked to the door.  
He turned the key and was just about to open it, when he saw the cloaked man sitting crosslegged in the corner.  
Ben quickly grabbed a hammer and pressed his back against the wall.

"Who are you?", he stammered.  
The man looked up and rose more easily than Ben would have thought possible, for the man was about sixty by the looks of him!  
He lifted his hand and Ben's hammer flew into it.  
"Don't worry, I don't want to hurt you. I'm a friend."  
Ben looked at the man sceptically and asked: "What do you want? How did you get in here in the first place?"  
The man smiled and said:"Through the door of course and as to 'what I want', I want to talk to you."  
"The door was locked."  
"So? I unlocked it."  
Ben decided not to press the subject any further.

"What do you want from me?", he asked defensively.  
"Well as I said, I want to talk to you.", the man smiled warmly, "I want to make you an offer."  
The man spoke with a weird accent, that Ben couldn't place. "I'm here on account of a group of people, that want you to join them."  
"What group of people?"  
"Oh, you probably won't know about them, we prefer to keep hidden!"  
"Why would I join you?"  
"Ben, you have some... abilities, that not many others have. You know I've been following you don't you?"  
"That was you?"  
"Yes. That was me."  
"Why couldn't I see you?", Ben asked confused.  
"Well you're not the only one with these abililties."  
"What abilities are you talking about? I don't have any 'abilities'. I'm not even especially good at anything.", Ben said quietly.  
"You know things before they happen, don't you? I don't mean conciously, but you often have feelings, that certain things will happen.", he smirked, "and mostly they do, don't they."  
"What has that got to do with anything?"  
"Ben, that's one of the abilities I'm talking about. You can sense the future."  
"How would you know that?", Ben snapped.  
"I'm like you.", he explained, "Ben do you or do you not want to leave here? The life I'm proposing to you is a hard one but an agreeable one. It will be a lot of training, but it will be nothing like this state you are living in!"  
"How do I know I can trust you? How do I know you didn't just make all this up?"  
"Ben, how did I take the hammer from you?"  
"I don't remember...", he answered a little embarassed.

The man lifted his hand and directed it at the hammer lying on the ground beside him.  
The hammer flew straight up and drifted in the air above the man's hand.  
Ben stared at it. "H...How...?"  
"I will explain it if you decide to join us."  
Ben looked at the house through the window and thought of the previous day.  
"I'll come with you.", he said finally, "It's not as if I was leaving anything important behind isn't it?"  
He gave a bitter laugh.  
"Good, then let's go."

The man unlocked the door and went outside.  
"Wait, don't I need to pack anything?"  
"No.", with that he walked towards the road and climbed into a car parked there.  
Ben gave one last look at his 'home' and then followed him.  
He knew it was a stupid thing to do, but he didn't really care.  
He wanted to leave home, for ever.

The man started the engine and drove off, soon leaving behind the village.  
Ben was fast asleep, even before they had reached the highway.


	3. Chapter III

Ben woke up in a car and covered in a brown cloak, both of which weren't normal.  
He blinked and sleepily looked around him.  
Beside him, the man was still driving, but he was wearing a weird light-brown Tunic.  
Now Ben understood where the cloak had come from.  
"Thanks...", he said quietly.  
"You are welcome.", the man said kindly.  
"Where are we going?", Ben asked.  
"To the temple. We will be there by dawn. You can sleep a while longer."  
Ben nodded and huddled deeper into the warmth of the man's cloak.  
"What's your name actually?", he suddenly asked.  
"My name is Master Shohun. I am in charge of collecting new recrutes for the Jedi."  
Ben didn't even try to ask why the man called himself a master.  
He looked out the window for some time, but before long, he drifted off to sleep again.  
The man woke Ben a couple of minutes, before arriving at the 'temple'.  
He started briefing him in a few things:  
"The Jedi are very polite people, do you understand? When they meet, they bow to each other. So when we go to Master Naho, he is the oldest of our order and you will present yourself to him, you will bow to him when you go in.  
Although before you meet him, you will be dressed in a Jedi attire.  
You will wear a tunic such as mine and you will have your hair cut short, like everyone else."  
"Ok."  
They drove on in silence for a few more minutes, until Master Shohun exited the highway and drove down an old dirt road that led straight into the forest.  
He stopped the car, when they arrived at a huge building, made of stone bricks so enormous Ben had to wonder how people had managed to move them.  
"Follow me!", Master Shohun said, taking Ben's hand, which felt a little awkward, and pulling him along.  
He took Ben into the building and after crossing a maze of hallways, deposited him in a little room, that seemed to serve as a hair salon.  
A man, he seemed about thirty, came towards them and exchanged a few words with Master Shohun in a language Ben did not understand.  
Finally Master Shohun said to Ben: "This is Onoma he will see to it that you be dressed correctly and he will cut your hair. Goodbye Ben.", with that Master Shohun bowed, turned an left.  
Ben bowed as Master Shohun had taught him and waited for Onoma to start speaking.  
"So, Ben, come on over here and sit down.", Onoma said.  
Ben obliged. He sat in a hairdressers chair and waited until the man was done cutting his hair.  
When he was, He told Ben to go change into a light-brown tunic he gave him.  
Ben entered a little room and after a few discouraging moments figured out how to wear the clothes he'd been given.  
When he came out, he looked very different.  
His hair was cropped short, with one strand braided (Onoma had explained, that identified him as a youngling.) and he was wearing a tunic with a leather belt strapped around his waist.  
He looked disturbingly similar to Master Shohun and Onoma.  
Master Onoma then led him down several hallways, back through the entrance and up a flight of stairs until he was standing in a waiting room in front of Master Naho's quarters.  
"What do I have to do now?", Ben asked.  
"Just wait and when Master Naho calls you in, answer his questions.", Onoma replied.  
He then bowed and left.

Ben gave up trying to figure out what people were talking about.  
He was starting to question the intelligence of his decision.  
Why did he decide to get in a car with a total stranger, so he could be taken to a place he didn't even understand?  
Then he thought about his father and he decided, that he had made the right decision.  
He was so lost in thought, he almost didn't hear his name being called from inside.  
He quickly entered Master Naho's quarters and closed the door behind him.  
He turned around located the Master and bowed to him.  
"Welcome, Ben.", Master Naho said with an accent, that Ben could only guess at being an old English one, "I'm guessing you have a million questions by now.", he chuckled, "Master Shohun is very secretive. I will try to answer as many of them as possible. Come sit..."  
"Who are you... I mean this place... What is it?"  
"Well that one is simple.", he chuckled, "We are the Jedi."


	4. Chapter IV

"Thousands of years ago, our founding-fathers started our order on a far-away planet.  
Do not think, that your civilisation is the only one!  
The Jedi or, more correctly Je'daii, were and still are an group of people, that learn and interpret the will and the ways of the force.  
Sadly, some Jedi... turned bad, let's put it that way, and started fighting the Jedi order.  
There was a long war, and afterwards, the Jedi decided to find a planet, where they weren't known, and live in exile.  
Here!", Master Naho explained.  
Ben asked, feeling a little foolish: "Are you Aliens?"  
Master Naho laughed then:"No child, we are not aliens. Not any more at least. The last non-human member of our order died long ago. We are humans such as you."  
Ben nodded and then asked:  
"You said you use something called the Force... What exactly is that?"  
"As Obi-Wan Kenobi, a member of our Order as it still existed long ago, once said:'Well, the Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together.' The Force is everywhere and' if you know how to reach it, you can use it. That is why you are here. You can use the Force, you just don't know it yet."  
Ben just nodded and waited for Master Naho to continue.  
"You will now join your group. A youngling, such as you,'s group is called a clan. You will find your clan in it's dormatory. Do not fear, they are all just as confused as you, since, they too only arrived yesterday or today. Go now."  
"How do I know where to look for the dormatory... Master?", he inquired."  
"Go to the main entrance. Your dormatory is down the hallway to the right of the portal, the third door on the right."  
Ben bowed and left. He headed back to the main entrance, feeling lost even though he wasn't.

He found the entrance and quickly discovered his dormatory.  
When he entered, he was surprised to find nineteen other 'younglings' who looked like they felt exactly as he did.  
It gave him a sense of security in a way.  
Everything would be fine, it was normal to be as lost as he was.  
Yet he discovered it wasn't just as easy as he had thought, for even though they were his age, the others had already established bed arrangements and found friends.  
As he entered the room, everybody looked at him for a second and then went back to their conversations.  
The only bed left was the one next to the door.  
A sole bed, that hadn't found enough space among the rest of the beds.  
Ben quietly walked to his bed and sat on it.  
He sat there, until a man in a light grey tunic came in.  
Ben got up, faced the man and bowed to him, as Master Shohun had taught him.  
Every single kid in the room started laughing.  
"Why are you laughing?", asked the man quietly. Everyone fell silent.  
One of the boys in the back of the room explained in a mocking tone:  
"That guy right beside you there sir... He just bowed to you. Like anybody would actually do that."  
He broke into laughter again.  
"But we do! He is the only one who actually understood anything at all.", his voice now had a slight edge to it, "Now if you please..."  
Hesitantly, everybody in the room bowed.  
"So... Since that's cleared up, I would want to introduce myself: I am Master Gon Hay. I'll be your tutor in the next years. I will help anybody who has trouble and I will personally kill anyone who looks for trouble. If you work hard and don't do to much nonsence, we'll get along."  
The man spoke with a pure american accent.  
When he spoke, his short-cropped brownish-gray beard shivered slightly which gave it a slight white shimmer.  
Ben smirked. He actually liked this man.  
"Here's a timetable for your clan.", he held a Din A3 piece of paper in the air, "I'll put it on the wall next to the door. Your first lesson starts in half an hour. Galactic basic, the language spoken throughout the galaxy. It'll be your favorite."  
He laughed and turned around to leave the room, but stopped.  
He looked sideways at Ben. The eye contact held for a moment and then he left the room.  
Half an hour later the whole clan was sitting in a room full of school benches, listening to a certain Master Deiha ramble on about a language none of them had ever even heard of.  
She was so caught up in her speech, that she didn't even notice the wet wads of paper flying through the class towards Ben.  
One of the wet lumps even landed on the blackboard with a loud 'splotch', which made her look up one second but that she had soon forgotten in favor of her speech.  
When the hour had passed, the only one who had learned anything was Bend and that was, that wet paper wads hurt when they hit you in the back of the neck.

When the day was finished, Ben was tired and sore.  
His neck hurt and he had found out that the only two classes that were actually interesting were 'Martial Arts' and 'applied Force'.  
He crashed down on his bed after having put on his sleeping gear, which was actually a very spectacular name given to underwear during nighttime, and fell asleep after only a couple of minutes.  
He felt secure, yes! But that didn't mean he was happy. He was resigned in finding that his position in society had not changed and would never change.  
He was condemned to stand apart.  
With that he drifted off into his Nightmares, not aware that the light had gone out or that the door had been closed.  
Only aware, that he was Ben, Ben Allan. A guy who never fit in.


	5. Chapter V

Ben turned a corner and came out into the entrance hall.

He was late.

He stormed down the hallways through the mess hall and into his classroom on the other side of the next corridor.  
"Sorry Master Guh Na, I overslept."  
Everyone in the room broke into laughter.  
Master Guh Na, his history teacher had an angry look on her old wrinkled face:  
"As always then. Ben if you continue like this I will have to punish you."  
"It won't happen again.", Ben said out of reflex.  
But it would happen again. It would happen again every single day.  
Ben sat dow in his chair and drifted off in thought.  
He was in fact so lost in his own world of thought, that he didn't hear Master Guh Na ask him a question.

"...uld you answer me please Ben!", he suddenly heard her say.  
"Sorry?", he said before he could stop himself.  
"Ben would you be so kind as to stay with me after the last lesson?"  
Detention again!  
"Yes Master Guh Na...", Ben said mechanically.

It had been two years now since he'd first arrived at the Jedi temple and Ben was as miserable as ever.  
He was last in almost all classes except 'Martial arts' and 'applied Force', and he was late almost every day.  
His padawan trials were just a week away and he was nowhere near ready for them.  
He wasn't interested in them either.  
For all he cared, the world could just stop turning right there and then.  
At the end of the day, he slumped down on his bed, waiting for the dinnerbell to sound.  
When it did, he filed into the messhall with the rest of his clan and stood in line for his dinner.  
When he got to the counter, the cook handed him a tray with food on it and Ben made his way to a table in the far corner of the room, trying to evade the jostles and feet of the other children.  
He sat down alone and ate his meal.

Halfway through, he thought he noticed a white-haired man clad in a dark-brown tunic glimpsing over to him all the time.  
He just ignored it.  
Instead he lifted his now empty plate a few centimeters in the air with Force and made it do loops.  
He liked playing with the Force.  
It was one thing he was actually good at.  
He looked up and saw the man looking at him.  
His white, close-cropped beard twitched and he turned away.  
Ben decided to just forget it and walked back to his dormatory, to go to bed.

He got to his locker, changed into his night-gear and went to sleep.

The next days passed in a blur and by the end of the week, Ben couldn't think of anything but the trials.  
He dreaded having to take them.  
The first on was a test on the Jedi code, the orders history and other boring stuff Ben couldn't remember at all.  
He guessed most of it and was pretty sure he'd fail.  
The second was more interesting.  
It was a test on his martial arts knowhow and his capability at using the Force.  
He thought he didn't do to bad on that one, but he couldn't be sure.  
When the jury came out and told him he'd passed the first two tests with almost exactly fifty percent right, which was just enough, he was really more astonished than he was happy.

The last test would take longer, because the test was to build ones first lightsaber.  
They were actually going to fly to aother planet that they weren't told where it was.  
There they would each try to retrieve a crystal from a cave, to construct their lightsaber.  
They were loaded on a 'frigate' as Master Gon Hay called it.  
It was a spaceship with a big front cockpit and a big cargobay (Them being the cargo!), connected to each other by just a small bridge.  
They were told to strap themselves into their seats.  
Ben immediately figured out how to do it and strapped himself in, whereas others needed Master Gon Hay's assistance.  
When the ship launched, some children immediately turned green.  
One even started getting sick.  
Since Master Gon Hay hadn't thought of the possibility, he was completely unprepared and it seemed like it was going to be a smelly flight until, a second before the stuff could touch the floor, Ben caught it with Force and made it float into the bag their Master was rushing towards them with.  
"Good reflex!", Master Gon Hay said praisingly.  
Ben nodded.

The boy who had just thrown up looked at him angrily as if it was Ben's fault he had gotten sick.  
When they arrived, the Master gave each one of them a cloak and told them to wear it.  
He had a good reason to do so, because the planet they were on was plunged in an eternal winter.  
It was freezing cold.  
They landed in front of a cave and as quickly as possible rushed inside.  
They entered what seemed to be a huge dome made of ice.  
In the middle of the room were three statues of some Je'daii using the Force.  
The weird thing was, that the things they were apparently controlling were actually floating.  
When one of the younglings pointed it out, Master Gon Hay said: "Look to the center of the statues, you'll find your explanation there."  
Everybody looked to where the Master was pointing and discovered a man sitting there crosslegged, meditating.  
They all bowed to him as was custom.  
"Welcome.", the man said, in a soft voice. "Welcome to the caves of Corr."  
He looked at them with eyes older than humanity itself.  
"Are you prepared to enter these caves, to retrieve your crystal and face yourselves?"  
"YES!", they all answered bowing once again.  
This ritual had been described to them, so they knew what to do.  
"Enter then younglings. May the Force be with you."  
With that, he raised his hand, causing a gate made of solid rock to open at the back of the room and waved for them to enter.  
They filed inside and the keeper of the caves of Corr closed the huge gate that then seperated them from freedom and from any help they wouldn't have received anyway.

They were alone.


	6. Chapter VI

Ben stormed down the tunnel, towards a faint source of light.  
Something was following him.  
He didn't know what it was, but he didn't intend to find out either.  
He heard its steps coming nearer and ran faster.  
The light was coming closer and after a few more moments, he came out of the tunnel and into a huge cave-chamber with stalactites hanging down the ceiling.  
The 'room' was brightly lit, but Ben couldn't see any source of light.  
He searched the room frantically for exits.  
He found none. He then continued looking for the lightsource.

There!

On top of a huge stalacmite was a crystal, shining bright-blue.  
He ran towards the stalacmite that was easily ten meters in diameter and jumped on it leaping fifteen meters in the air.  
He then stood panting on top of the formation.  
He bent over and leaned on his knees.  
When he had somewhat regained his breath, he looked over the edge, just to see a small green thing flying towards him at a frightning speed.  
He jumped back and took on a defensive stance.  
The small green thing landed smoothly on the stalacmite and stood upright.  
It then stood still as the rock itself.  
Ben looked the thing up and down suspiciously.  
It had elfish ears, three-fingered hands and four-toed feet, which made it look really weird.  
Ben walked backwards slowly, trying to reach the crystal he knew was destined to be his.  
After what seemed an endless time, he reached the royal blue crystal and snatched it from its socket.  
The creature in front of him twitched.  
Ben started leaving, when he suddenly heard the creature speak.  
"Remembered the Je'daii as humble and well mannered I had. Wrong I was?"  
Ben realized the creature was upset about Ben not being especially polite, so he bowed and said: "Who are you?", trying not to say 'What'!  
"Matters not that does! I am a keeper of the crystals."  
Ben noticed the creature hadn't moved yet.  
He found the fact slightly disturbing. "A What?"  
"Keeper of crystals. A peaceful race we are. Very attuned to the Force."  
"What are you here for?", Ben said with a kind of suspicious respect.  
"A message to bring to you. Tell you your crystal it not is. Not yet!"  
The creature chuckled and then was gone.  
Ben didn't see it dissapear or turn away for a moment.  
It was just gone, as if for a moment he had just turned his brain off and on.  
"Wait, what do you mean?", he cried.  
Why could things in relation to the Force never be simple?  
It was not his crystal 'yet'!  
What the hell was that supposed to mean?

Ben jumped down the rock and started back in the direction he had come from, to get back to the portal.  
They had, from the moment the guardian had opened the gate, twenty-four hours to get their crystal and get back.  
Ben was at first very much on his guard, because the only possible explanation for the creature's words would be that the fight for his crystal wasn't over yet.  
Still, as he got ever closer to the portal, he let down his guard a bit.  
When he reached the portal, he saw that most of the other younglings had already returned.  
Some looked like they had been crying, others looked like they had seen a ghost, which by the way wasn't all that impossible for all Ben knew!  
They waited, Ben sitting far apart from the others, until all the others had returned.  
The gate opened a few hours after and the clan left the crystal caves of Corr, each carrying a crystal in his or her pocket.  
A smiling Master Gon Hay was standing outside looking at them.  
"Have you all succeeded?"  
All of them nodded.  
"Good then let us all thank the Master guardian for his help..."  
"Thank you Master.", they all replied in unison.  
The guardian smiled and Ben could have sworn he had opened his left eye and winked at him.

The clan followed Master Gon Hay back out into the cold and over to the starship.  
Inside, the sat down around a large table, with a hole in the middle.  
Their Master said loudly so everyone would hear him clearly:  
"So... Now that you have all retrieved your crystals successfully, comes the hard part.", he grinned, "You must now construct your lightsaber. Please welcome SD 2 (Service droid N°2, the first one having been destroyed during the reign of the Sith!), Master of lightsaber construction."

"Welcome, children. I am SD 2. Quiet your minds and listen to me carefully, for I will speak things of importance.", the droid said in an annoying, metallic voice.  
Ben knew he would go nuts until the end of the day.


	7. Chapter VII

Ben woke up to he sound of an extremely annoying voice:  
"Up, up, up! We mustn't waste time children."

As every morning.

Every morning, Ben was woken by this Robot that got on his nerves whatever it did.  
He got up ate breakfast and went to work, trying to figure out, what his lightsaber should be like.  
The only problem: He couldn't.  
He would sit there every day, meditating, just as SD 2 had instructed him.  
But to no avail.  
He just couldn't find out.  
Nobody knew why, but Ben had a feeling it had something to do with the weird green creatures words.  
It just wasn't his crystal. Yet.  
When would it be? Ben hoped it would happen soon.

When on the second last day, Ben had still not found out, the droid just gave him a temporary lightsaber to put his crystal in.  
He said: 'Until you find your own...' , but the way he said, it made it clear that SD 2 didn't believe Ben would ever find one.  
Ben quickly put all the pieces on the table in front of him and put his crystal beside them.  
He then closed his eyes and started concentrating on the design the lightsaber in front of him was supposed to have.  
He made the pieces lift themselves off the table and align in the air.  
When they were aligned, he made the crystal move between them and position itself in its place.  
When everything was in place, he snapped everything together and looked up to see a finished lightsaber hovering in the air.  
He placed his hand around itand let it go mentally.  
It felt akward and heavy and somehow alien.  
In short, it wasn't right and Ben knew it.  
He clipped it to his belt feeling horribly dissatisfied and went back to meditating.  
Maybe he'd be lucky... But he wasn't.  
No sign from heaven or Force or whatever was up there. Ben didn't really know anymore.

When they landed, everyone was carrying his own personal weapon into the Jedi temple... except Ben, who was carrying a weapon into the Jedi temple.

They were all congratulated for their success in passing the Padawan trials and they were told to appear in the arena at seven the next morning.  
There they would compete in a tournament, so the masters and knights could choose their apprentices.  
When they were told, a sense of doom came over Ben.  
He knew he'd be the last to get picked.  
He'd only barely passed the written test and he hadn't even succeeded in building his own lightsaber.  
He was going to end up with the nastiest mentor ever.  
He was sure of it.  
At six-thirty a.m. the next morning, Everybody in Ben's clan got out of bed dressed and started for the arena.  
Everyone was nervous and fiddling with his clothes.  
They wanted to look good. They wanted to get picked first.  
Ben filed into the arena last and stood at the end of the line they had formed.  
Master Gon Hay was walking up and down the line of to-be padawans and briefing them on the rules.

They were simple:  
No kicking, no backstabbing and no throwing one's lightsaber.

Then the tournament started.

The children were divided into duos, which would battle each other one on one.  
This was done by chance and Ben ended up with a kid called Bruno that he had never noticed before.  
They stood facing each other and, when the arena master gave the signal, started at each other.  
Ben, since he didn't actually have a proper lightsaber, decided to leave it out of the way, as it would only hinder him.  
Bruno came at him with a wild swing that Ben easily avoided.  
His opponent then stabbed at him, to which Ben responded by jumping in the air and landing behind Bruno, also avoiding a back strike the guy was trying.  
This went on for about five minutes, until Bruno finally let his defenses down for a moment, which Ben used as an opportunity to stab him in the belly.  
The lightsabers, having been tuned to a very low frequency didn't do much more than bruise him, but Ben had won.

He had won!  
Still he wasn't satisfied, for he hadn't been able to show his fighting skills.  
Nobody would choose him.  
They waited for a few more minutes, until the last two groups, who were still fighting, were done and then formed a line again.  
The knights and masters would now, one after the other, pick their apprentices.

The said knights and Masters, or more precisely Master for it was only one stood opposite of the children then began picking.  
Each child got his turn and got picked and judging by how things looked presently, Ben was almost sure he'd end up with the Master.  
Why was this a bad thing? Well, Jedi who were already Masters normally didn't take padawans.  
They always let the knights take the children for themselves to allow them to prove themselves and become Masters.  
If a Master was taking one of the padawans, he probably wasn't happy about it.  
Also he was an elderly person, who looked sad, which made Ben feel sure he would suffer throughout the next years.

When Ben was the only one left, as he suspected, the master chose him.  
It was the guy who as always watching him in the cafeteria.

Ben walked up to the man and stood in front of him, as all of his comrades did.  
Master Naho, who was organizing the tournament beside the arena master said that they should now welcome and get to meet each other.  
Ben bowed to his Master and the man bowed to him.  
"Hello Ben, let's go outside to talk. There are too many people in here for my taste."  
He turned around and walked out of the arena, Ben following close behind.  
Outside, the master sat down on a bench and introduced himself: "I'm Master Jukassa. I'll be your mentor through the next years."  
Ben nodded, still standing, as he thought was polite, in front of the bench.  
"Sit Ben...", the master said.  
Ben lowered his eyes and said in a small voice:  
"I... I'm sorry you got stuck with me Master... I..."  
His master was quiet for a moment and then, a little confused, said:  
"Ben you don't seem to understand... I didn't get stuck with you.  
I asked for you!"


End file.
